Apple wants to buy Primesense, the same company behind the Kinect sensor

According to a new report, Apple is looking to acquire an Israel-based 3D-sensor company called Primesense. Apple wants to acquire the company rather than license its services and utilize the company’s sensor technology in some of Apple’s upcoming products.

Apple apparently offered $280 million to acquire Primesense. In the past, Microsoft worked with Primsense to include the sensor technology in the very first Kinect motion sensor for the Xbox 360 console. If Apple does acquire Primesense, there is no telling how this would affect Microsoft’s Kinect or other companies who have utilized Primesense’s technology.

Primesense’s 3D technology is used in more than 20 million devices around the world, according to The Verge. The same technology is used in smartphones and tablets and can be found in new portable scanners capable of generating detailed, colorful 3D models of interior spaces. Apple is no stranger to acquiring a company based out of Israel. Just last year, Apple acquired the Israeli flash storage maker Anobit for $400 million dollars.

Primesense has been pretty busy as of late, working with Asus to provide 3D sensing technology for the Asus WAVI Xtion PC. Primesense has also been busy with development of 3D motion-activated games and more.